Hidden Things
by KatInTheHat-007
Summary: It would have felt like de ja vu if everything hadn't been so different.


AN: read and review! I hope you like it! I would really appreciate some feedback. :) -Kat

He ran up behind her and she turned around, hearing his feet crash on the floor.

"Hermione! Thank Merlin you're okay!"

She laughed sarcastically. Draco's relieved face snapped to annoyed. His emotions were ever changing like the wind.

"Don't you understand?!" Draco demanded exasperatedly. "I can't be here-I shouldn't be here- I just... I needed to see if you were okay."

Hermione rolled her eyes. There was a pause, as if both of them were expecting something from the other.

"All right, fine, silent treatment. Understandable." He muttered to himself, running his fidgety hands through his hair and looking around the tattered room. The room that used to be their safe haven, full of loud arguments, sweet moments, and passionate shags. The room of requirement; the room of hidden things, for that was what their 'relationship' was: hidden. It was where they made amends, though it did take time. Draco could remember their first encounter in the room like it was yesterday. It was during their sixth year, around Halloween.

_Hermione walked in, finally managing some alone time from the boys, marveling in all of the room's glory. The room of requirement had always astounded her. No matter how long she lived in the wizarding world, she would never get over how amazing magic was. _

_She was standing in front of a cabinet. It would like quite nice in her bedroom, she thought. She ran her hand down the intricate designs carved meticulously into the wood, but jumped when she heard someone scoff behind her. _

_"Malfoy." She said disdainfully, eyeing him up and down.  
>He smirked. "Granger."<em>

_She was about to turn and leave when he said, "Never seen a cabinet before? I didn't know you Mudbloods were that primitive."  
>She froze, and turned back into his direction slowly. Their eyes met, and his smirk grew.<em>

_"When are you going to stop using that bloody name?" Hermione demanded it in such a cold and harsh way that Draco broke out in gooseflesh. _

_"When I stop believing your kind", he gestured to her, "to be filth."  
>Her eyes turned to slits, and her petite face turned a light shade of red.<em>

_"Yes, Draco, I know what you think of 'my kind', as you so eloquently put it. But don't you think you could come up with a better insult? You're beginning to sound redundant, considering I've been hearing the same demeaning name since second year." _

_She turned on her heel and marched away, calling back to him, "maybe that'll give you something to think about, Malfoy."_

_He stood, dumbstruck, for quite some time. No one got his blood boiling like an angry Granger._

"You used me." Hermione said softly, after some time. His eyes danced back to hers. He didn't expect to see them tearing.

She was looking past him, across the room, where the magical Vanishing Cabinet once stood. Black ash was all that was left of it, along with the rest of the room. It smelled of stale smoke. She was gazing at the pile of ash in an almost longing way. Back when they first became friends, Hermione loved his company, especially when Harry was off with Ron.

_"Here again, Granger?"_

_Hermione rolled her eyes while hastily wiping the wetness away._

_"You say that as if you're expecting me to stop coming." Her voice cracked slightly. He could tell she was trying to be brave. Their conversations in this room, though short and occasionally quite rude, had let Draco see more of her true colors than she knew. Slytherin's were incredible at reading people._

_Draco cocked his head slightly. She was curled up in a ball at the base of the cabinet, a book in her lap. She wouldn't look at him._

_"What's got your knickers in a twist tonight, Granger?"_

_Hermione sneaked a peek up at him before her eyes shot back down into her lap. She contemplated whether or not she should tell him.  
>Why not?<em>

_"Ron... Ron has a girlfriend. And she is the most annoying and despicable girl!" _

_Her hands balled into fists. "He kissed her, too! Right in front of me!"_

_Tears were free falling from her eyes. "Is it obvious, Malfoy? Do I really go after him like a starving beggar?" She wiped her face furiously with her hands._

_Draco cringed slightly. Earlier that day, he had said those exactly words to her. _

_He was only nervous for the Quidditch match, and he happened across her in a corridor. Seeing her in her extravagant Gryffindor garb to support Scarhead and Weaselbee was enough to set him off._

_"Granger... No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." Hermione's tense shoulders dropped and she let out a relieved sigh._

_"It's my hair then, isn't it? Is it because I'm a... A prude? A bookworm? I would rather study than go flying on a broom or to one of those stupid parties?!" All she wanted, all she needed, was closure. _

_Draco shook his head and sat down next to her at an arm's length away. Is it normal for a Slytherin to feel remorse? Sadness? Perhaps, but he was a Malfoy. _

_He was trained from birth that a Malfoy is composed and doesn't show any emotion. He was drilled even more that the most lowly of a person was the same as Granger. Still, he couldn't help the unpleasant knot in his stomach that formed at her words._

_"It's because he's a bloody idiot. He doesn't know a good girl when he sees one, and he hasn't come to his senses." Draco surprised himself. Never would he have thought that he would be comforting Granger, and never would he have thought that she would scoot closer to him and lay her head on his shoulder in response to his kind words._

_It was the first time they had touched, unless you counted the time Hermione slapped him_.

Draco shook his head. "I wasn't using you. It was merely a perk. I wouldn't have dragged you into this mess if you hadn't figured it out..."

"A perk?" Hermione cut him off. He cringed slightly.

As his feelings grew for her, he lost his charming way with words. The affect she had on him included his speech, and often left him rambling and incoherent.

_When he returned, (their meetings were becoming a regular occurrence) Draco was surprised to find Hermione scribbling notes on some parchment in front of the cabinet. She looked up, her face lighting up when she saw him._

_"Draco! Draco, look!" She ran over to him and dragged him back over to the cabinet. He smiled at the use of his first name. He couldn't get over her willingness to use it, it made his stomach flip pleasantly. But as much as he loved hearing her say his name, he enjoyed saying hers more._

_She tore off a bit of parchment and dropped it into the cabinet and closed the door. She mumbled a spell. After a few moments she opened it again.  
>"It's a Vanishing Cabinet!" She said proudly and excitedly.<em>

_Draco was frozen in place, staring at the cabinet. All of his problems, all of his worries, disappeared for a moment, but they were back as fast as they left. How did she fix it?_

_"Hermione... You... I..." He didn't take his eyes off the cabinet. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to get the burden of the task off his chest.  
>"Draco?" His eyes flitted back to her. He hadn't realized she had gotten so much closer to him. <em>

_"How did you fix it?" He asked, forcing his eyes back to the cabinet. He needed to get her to stop staring at him like that. _

_She seemed bewildered, surprised that he knew of its existence and it's broken state in the first place. She must have thought she were the first to find it. She shook her head and preceded to venture on a strenuous spiel about how she managed to repair the cabinet, but all he could manage to think about was the way her large doe eyes lit up with excitement, making them take on a shade of gold that highlighted her bushy hair._

_"...and I have a strong suspicion that this leads to another Vanishing Cabinet, such as the one in Borgin and Burkes." Hermione concluded, mainly speaking to herself now, tapping her chin. She scrunched her nose, deep in thought._

_"How did you know about the Vanishing Cabinet in Borgin and Burkes?" Draco asked after some time. He knew the answer, but the blush that crept up on her face from the realization of her slip up was priceless._

_He should have been angry that she followed him and his 'comrades'. She stumbled and backtracked, but all he could manage to think about was the way the blush crawled up from her chest like a weed, extending to her freckled cheeks making them match her silly Gryffindor scarf._

_She finished her silly excuse for a cover up story and Draco found himself nodding, pretending to believe her. She let out a breath of air. _

_He smiled and shook his head, running his fingers through his hair._

"Hermione, you know what I mean! I didn't mean for it to end that way. I didn't want to leave you!"

"You could have switched sides... We could have helped you!"  
>Draco laughed sarcastically. "Yes, and let Him kill my parents?"<p>

Hermione looked down.

"That's right, because we both know that your precious little Order wouldn't have taken them in. We both know that they probably wouldn't have even taken me in!"

Hermione kept her eyes trained on the ground.

_It was Christmas time again at Hogwarts, and Draco was preparing to leave that evening to visit his family. Apparently Hermione was leaving as well. _

_He walked into the Room of Requirement, holding the Slytherin green box behind his back when he snuck up behind her. She was reading again, and deep in thought. He could tell by her scrunched nose._

_He stopped in front of her with a lopsided grin tainting his Malfoy persona. _

_Upon noticing him, she snapped her book shut, jumping up to speak to him head on._

_His grin widened, loving the look of surprise that tainted her know-it-all persona as he brought the present from behind his back._

_She blushed, "you really shouldn't have, Draco. I didn't get you anything..." _

_Trailing off and attempting to get over how incredibly thoughtful and unexpected this scenario was, she tucked a loose curl behind her head and reached for the present from his outstretched hand. _

_Chuckling at the silver bow and green wrapping parchment, she uncovered a box. Opening it slightly, she gasped and almost dropped the bloody thing._

_"Where... Where did you find this?" Hermione gaped, pulling out the old an tattered book. _

_"It was in the library in my house. It's ancient, but I see you reading yours all the time..." _

_Putting the box down, Hermione trailed her finger over the gold-imprinted indentions spelling out 'Hogwarts, A History'._

_She smiled at him widely. "Thank you so much, Draco." _

_"You missed some of your present."_

_She raised a brow and looked back into the box. Sure enough, there was a thin piece of colored parchment separating the two gifts, explaining how she had missed it._

_Hermione bent down and picked up the second part of her gift, gaping at him. _

_"You must be joking!" She choked out, laughter making her bend over slightly._

_He laughed along with her, for the first time in months. He had given her one of his Slytherin scarves, as a joke of course. "Are you not going to put it on?" He challenged._

_Never one to back down a challenge, she whipped the scarf around her neck twice and began swaying around meretriciously, "look at me, I'm a Slytherin, and sneaky git who gets people wonderfully insane gifts!" She laughed._

_Draco chuckled at her cheesy joke. "Slytherin suits you, Hermione."_

_She stopped short and turned to face him, becoming serious all of a sudden. He needed to teach himself to keep up with her emotions better._

_"Thank you, Draco." _

_She walked closer to him, watching his face closely. When she reached his rigid form, she pulled herself to him, wrapping her thin arms around his hard frame._

_It was several moments before her hugged her back._

_It was minutes before they let go._

_When they did, he leaned in and kissed her._

"You didn't do anything, Draco." She lifted teary eyes to his. "You only watched..." She didn't need to specify which incident she was referring to.  
>Draco's shoulders slumped and he looked away. "There wasn't anything I could do..."<p>

"You could have helped!"

He turned rigid, disbelief spreading across his face like wildfire.

"Bellatrix would have killed you if I tried to save you. She would have killed you if I showed a sign of remorse. She would have killed you if I shifted uncomfortably. She would have taken any reason to kill you like a giddy school girl!"

"Damn it, Malfoy! You could have done something!" She wanted to blame him for what happened, because who else could she blame? Bellatrix was dead.

_They met three times a week after they returned from Christmas.  
>Hermione didn't tell a soul, and neither did Draco. Some could call forbidden love romantic, but really, it makes you lonely, and incredibly dependent on your significant other.<em>

_Hermione was waiting for him, as he always was. She never failed to get there before him._

_Draco smiled at seeing her. "Hello, love." He sat down next to her, in front of the cabinet. He liked to pretend the damned thing didn't exist, but Hermione always seemed to end up near it._

_He kissed her cheek and grasped her hand gently. He just needed to touch her._

_She smiled at his sweet embraces, turning to face him. She sat up straighter to reach his mouth, kissing him deeply, watching his eyes flutter shut before shutting her own. The kiss quickly turned desperate and needy, as they always did. Hermione had always stopped them before their roller coaster flew off the tracks._

_But today felt different. Today Hermione was bold. Today was the day.  
>She pressed herself to him and he grunted in response. It wasn't enough. She needed more contact.<em>

_She moved again, this time straddling him. He gasped, staring at her with wide eyes. "Where did this bravado come from, love?"_

_She smirked, a trait she picked up from him, and rolled her hips, making his head fall back and his eyes shut. She leaned into him and whispered ever so quietly, "I want you to take me, Draco Malfoy."_

_He let out a growl and began unbuttoning her shirt, while she worked on his. _

_Him being a thousand times more experienced than her, she was bare in less than a minute. She crossed her arms and legs awkwardly, attempting to cover herself slightly, making her endeavor even more time consuming. _

_"I want to see you, Hermione." She smiled a small, bashful smile and ignored him, furrowing her brow at a particularly stubborn button on his shirt._

_When her shaking hands reached his belt, she paused and looked at him. He smiled a warm and brilliant smile that caressed her heart and made her stomach jolt. "If you're not ready 'Mione, I understand." She shook her head and rid him of the rest of his clothing. _

_They sat for a moment, her still in his lap, taking each other in. He moved her arms and legs, allowing himself a better view of her. "Beautiful..." He whispered, before leaning in and indulging himself in what would be the most addicting of all drugs. _

_His Hermione._

_They met everyday after that._

"Why do you keep acting like I had a choice?" He yelled, losing his composure.

He rarely lost his composure. "I still don't have a choice!" He began waving his arms around to emphasize his frustration. "The second we walk out of here I'll be shipped off to Azkaban!"

Hermione cringed at his outburst.

"I won't let them." She said, stepping forward and gripping his arms, the vehement intensity in her eyes stopping him in his tracks.

"I saved the bloody wizarding world, I can vouch for you!"

Draco shook his head. "That would ruin your spotless reputation, sweetheart. Not to mention you would lose all of your friends..."

"I don't care! I can't lose you! Not again!" Hermione yelled, tears free falling from her eyes.

_Dumbledore's funeral was earlier that day. _

_"We can't Hermione."_

_"We can find a way!" _

_"No. I can't even be here right now, he's probably looking for me..." They both knew who he was talking about._

_There was a pause._

_"Why did you do it?" She asked quietly. _

_"He would have killed my parents." Draco stated in a matter-of-fact tone.  
>"Then me."<em>

_Hermione wiped away a few stray tears. "I don't blame you, you know. Just Voldemort." _

_Draco's eyes met hers for the first time. "We do crazy things to protect our family." Her eyes lit up for a moment, as if an idea popped in her brilliant mind, but she shook her head, storing it for later._

_Draco didn't take his eyes off her. It always amazed him how she allowed her facial features to contort to show her mood. It was a luxury he could never have. _

_For all he knew, this would be the last time he saw her. He needed to finally tell her._

_He cupped her cheek._

_"I love you, Granger." For once, there was no pause._

_"I love you, Malfoy."_

_He stepped forward, kissing her as if it were the last time._

_They both knew it very well could have been._

Draco cupped her cheek, smiling a sad smile.

"I love you, Granger." She shook her head, knowing what this was leading to.

"I love you, Malfoy." He leaned in and kissed her. It would have felt like de ja vu if everything hadn't been so different.

When he turned to leave, she watched him go, just like last time.

He reached the door before she ran after him.

He turned and looked at her. His puffy red eyes showed his emotions.

This time, she cupped his cheek. "Whatever we have to deal with out there, we're going to do it together."

It wasn't a question.

He smiled. "You really are insane, Hermione."

"Yes, but you love me anyway."

She grabbed his hand and tugged him out the door, towards their long and challenging but beautiful future together.

_"There had been times when he knew, somewhere in him, that he would get used to it, whatever it was, because he had learnt that some hard things became softer after a very little while." _  
>Nick Hornby<p> 


End file.
